Helicopter



June 8, 1937.

J. E. HESS. JR

HELICOPTER Filed Oct. 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR (/OHN E. HEss L/NR.

TTORNEY J. E. HESS. JR

June 8, 1937.

HELICOPTER Filed Oct. 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /NVENTOR L/OHN E. HESSJ/NR. W

TORNEY Patented June .1937 t John a. Hess. as, New Westminster, was

. lnnihia, M

Application October 15, 1935, Serlal'No. 45,22! s Claims. (01. 244-0) My invention relates to improvements in hellcopters the objects of which are to provide means for the machine when m flight; to provide automatic means for increasing the lift of one lifting propeller and to simultaneously'reduce the lift of a complementary propeller, and to provide means serving as automatic stabilizers which also serve as planes for the helicopters in the event of the lifting power of the propellers being less than that necessary to keep the machineinfiight. I

The invention consists essentially of a pair of lifting propellers provided on the trailing edge of their blades with an aileron and means for mov- 1118 the ailerons of one'propeller up and those of the other propeller down, as will be more fully described in the following specification and 'shown in the accompanying drawings, in

which:- i

Fig. 1 is a general rear elevational view of a Pig. 8 M showing the aileron control generally. 35 Pig. 9 is a detail view ofthe wing vane struc- In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure. The nmneral l indicates generally a fuselage or 40 frame having a'taiP-fin 2, a rudder 2 and a power plant not shown. Suitably driven from the power plant are horizontal shafts I, each of which drives through a housing 5 and a vertical tubular shaft 2. These shafts are driven preferably 5 in opposite directions and are/each fitted with a lifting propeller I having radiating blades 2 ofv suitable pitch. The trailing edge of each blade 2' \is fitted with an aileron 0 which may extend any. desired distance along the blade from its outer ,50 periphery inwards. For the purposes of descriptionthe two propellers'will be'respectively referred to as IA and 1B and their respective blades aslAandlB. 1 1 1,.

Housed within an opening in each propeller '55 blade I is a pair of hydraulic control cylinders which are respectively indicated by the numerals II and II, each cylinder is fitted with a suitable piston i2, see detailsin Figure 4. and a connect-' ing rod i2, The connecting rods engage opposwiii) ing of a rocker arm iifiwhich is fulcrumed in the body of the blade as at is. From opposite ends of the rocker arm ll wires I. extend to op-' positeendsofanarmll whichissecuredtothe aileron s at the point of its hinge pin II. The

22 and connectingrods'22. -1A T-shapedrocking lever 24 is mounted below the cylinders 22 and It, the head member of which is connected at opposite ends to the connecting rods 22, and the leg 28 is connected to two armatures 21 of two solenoids 28 and 22.

Two wires so are led from opposite ends of the-head member 25 of the rocking lever 24 .to the ends of a second rocking lever 2| (shown enlarged in Figure 5) which is connected to the base of the control stick 22, so that the operation of the T-shaped rocking lever 24 can be operated as desired by the pilot-through the control stick should the solenoids be out of operation.

Each of-the cylinders 20 and 2| is provided with a port 22 as an inlet and outlet for the operating fiuid. .A tube 24 leads from the port 22 of the cylinder 22 to the base of each of the shafts 2, and a tube 25 also'leads from the port 22 of the cylinder 2|. to the base of each of the shafts 2. These two tubes connectto a sta-' tionary part 26 of a gland 21 which is provided with a central e 22 and an annular groove 22 on its upper face. the upper part ll, which is rotatable with the shaft, is provided with a complementary central passage 22 and an annular groove 2|. The tube 2| connects th the central e" 22 of both parts of the gland and continues upwards to the upper extremity of the shaft 2' and there'branches out to each of the control cylinders ll of the blades 2A andthe corresponding tube extends through the'other shaft to the control cylinders ll of the blades 28; and in a corresponding manner the tube 22 connects with the annular groove 29 of the stationary part 22 and connects with the corresponding groove in the upper part 0, continuing upwards to the upper end of its shaft, thence. branching out to the control cylinders. The

tubes 25 passing to the blades IA communicate with the control cylinders l2, and those passing to the blades 88 communicate with the control cylinders II, by this means force exerted by the piston 22 of the operating cylinder 20 is transmitted through the control cylinders to depress the ailerons of the 'propelierblades 0A and to raise those of the propeller blades 83.

A-switch 4| is provided for controlling the pull of the solenoids, this switch consists of an insulated arm 42 which is pivotally mounted intermediate its length upon a pin 43. Extending from eachendoithe armisalaminated springcontact flngerflandex tendingbelowthearmflisa' pendulum l! to maintain the arm in horizontal I position. Suitably mounted on an insulated panel, not shown, are rheostats A and 133,-, .which are disposed adjacent the free ends of the contact 'flngers, each of the rheostats are provided with contact points I! which are disposed along a curve x--x;shown in dotted line,'the innermost point is connected by a wire ll to one or the solenoids 2| o r 2l'and banks 01' resistance are interpond betw the innermost and outermost points 41, so that as the pendulum l l swings the tip of-the co itact finger ll which is approaching a rheostat contact first the outermost point 41, interposing the maximum resistance in the line and then the next adjacent point. thus cutting out one bank of resistance and so on until the innermost point is reached. Obviously. the points contacted will depend on the inclination or the machine, the resistance of the contact finger tobending and the resistance to fiow of current will be reduced as the inclination of the Irosnthedissram. Flam-es, itwill be apparenti that on the machine tipping downwardly on, the leit or with the propeller blades IA'lower than lBthependulumllwillswin gtothe left and current from the battery ll will flow through the.rheostat A and its contact finger, throughthe wire a to the solenoidll, thence to ground, thus energizing thesolenoid todraw in its armature and swing the rocking lever 24, thus urging the piston .22 upwardsin the cylinder 20 and allowing the pistonin the cylinder 2! to descend. The fluid expresed by the above movemeat from the cylinder}! forces the pistons oi= thatwhencloaedorinclined w thea'nsleeotthe .wingirama-flaeyoverlapeach other slightly .Ion that. side, whereas none is vised on the other side-oi. Bye or mt to air. e

half the control cylinders outwards aspreviously 'l d e transversely beyond said said" iorminmchpos'iflonawingcapableotlehding' machinewillreturntohorisontaliiiahtand 'thes'ideslipisstoppedgravitywillcausethe vanes toreturntoth'eirnormalsubstantiallyvertical position orsus'pension. Air is normally free to' pass between the suspended vanes and thereiore 6 no resistanceto vertical lift bythe is. produced. r 1 Itwill beapparentthatthesystemoi'uslnga oi lilting propellers fitted with ailerons on their blades'may be used forward and to the rearoiashiptokeepit on alevel course or on 'anydesiredinclineordecline.

WhileI have shown a hydraulic system. employing pairs of control cylinderrand a-pair oi operating cylinders, it will be obvious that single 15 I in the samemanner by using a gravity operated I device-and hydraulicnneans to raise an aileron 25 on one wing and correspondingly depress anotherontheoppositewing.- 3 WhatI claim as,my invention is: '1,'A helicopter having a pair of transversely a, arranged lifting propellers; a supporting wing 30 mounted transversely beyond theslip stream of" 4 each propeller, said supporting wings consisting oi frames set to a dihedral'angleand-havln'g a plurality oi. vanes hingedly mounted in said frames on axes wholly parallel to the line of flight a5 and adapted normally to hang substantially-in I a vertical position whereby when the helicopter .is in normal flight the/slip stream of air from above passes treelysthro'ugh said vanes and whereby one end of each of said vanes'is pre-' sentedintothetiirectlineotfllght. T 2. A helicopter having a pair oi transversely arranged lilting propellers, a pair of frames ex- 

